


True Love Conquers All

by StoryWeaverKirea



Series: IronQrow Week 2021 [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Holding Hands, IronQrow Week 2021, M/M, Magic, Salem is motherly but in a really creepy way, Temporary Character Death, True Love, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:02:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28742925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoryWeaverKirea/pseuds/StoryWeaverKirea
Summary: The hero knight and his mage thief companion have their final battle with the evil witch.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/James Ironwood
Series: IronQrow Week 2021 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105700
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	True Love Conquers All

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elzierav](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elzierav/gifts).



> This is my day 2 of Ironqrow week! The prompts were bad luck charm/hero and I combined them!
> 
> This fic is for my friend Elz! Love ya lots!
> 
> Enjoy~

_ No… This can’t be happening… James… _

Qrow shook his head in disbelief, tears streaming down his face as he held James' lifeless body in his arms. The strongest knight in Atlas, the hero who saved countless lives with the holy blade gifted to him by the Gods, had been slain by the evil witch Salem. Her dark magic had torn through his shield of light and struck a deathly blow when he had jumped in front of Qrow to protect him. The shapeshifter had watched in horror as the man he loved crumpled to the ground, covered in blood. He had collapsed next to his still breathing form and held him close in his arms as he tried to heal the wound with his magic.

“James! Just hold on, I’ll heal you!” Qrow told him, his voice cracking as his emotions came pouring out.

“Qrow… It’s too late…” James replied weakly with hazy unfocused eyes.

“No, don’t say that!” Qrow yelled, his eyes shiny with unshed tears.

James coughed, harsh but feeble before he spoke. “It’s fine… Knowing I was able to protect you… to keep you safe is all I needed…”

“No, stay with me James!” Qrow begged him desperately, the tears falling freely now.

“I love you… my Qrow…” James said softly, smiling as he closed his eyes and breathed his final breath.

Qrow shook the still body as he continued to use his magic but it was no use, his knight was already gone.

“James… No, please… come back to me… don’t leave me!” Qrow cried out in despair, the pain too great for him to hold in his heart.

Salem laughed then, but he didn’t look at her, couldn’t look at the one who killed his beloved. 

“The greatest knight in all the realm was not so great after all.” She said with an amused coldness in her voice. “It is futile, little thief… your magic can no longer reach him… you’re not strong enough.”

Qrow ignored her, simply cried into James’ chest, begging, pleading for him to return even though he knew nothing he could do would bring him back.

“Why shed tears for such a fool when it was his own actions that lead to his death?” She asked him still with that coldness in her voice as she calmly walked around the room, her heels clicking against the obsidian floor. "Is it because he protected you? Do you blame yourself for his pointless death?”

Qrow didn’t answer her but his silence was all the reply she needed to continue.

“Oh, little thief, I know that you do. You blame yourself for his death and for every unfortunate event that has ever happened around you.” She stated simply as she sat on her throne, not concerned about him attacking her at all. “You are a curse to everyone around you, bringing nothing but misfortune wherever you go.”

Although he stayed silent, Qrow agreed with her words, he thought of himself as a curse who hurt those he loved. He had started to believe things were different with James as he had never been bothered by his misfortune, telling him that he should take destiny into his own hands instead. Yet, in the end James had fallen because Qrow needed to be protected, because he had been by his side.

_ I should have never stayed with you… Maybe then you’d still be here... I really am just a bad luck charm… _

Qrow tensed when he felt a cold, pale hand touch his cheek and he lifted his head to see Salem looking at him in an almost motherly way that only made him want to shudder away. He hadn’t noticed her move towards him and it was frightening to know the power she held but he wouldn’t leave James’ side, who knows what she would do to his body.

“Now now, you needn’t cry anymore, little thief.” She told him in a gentle tone as if she was trying to comfort him though it had the opposite effect. “Your misfortune cannot harm me for it is not strong enough against my magic.” She explained as she wiped the tears away and caressed his cheek. “Come, fight for me, I can teach you magic the likes of which you’ve never seen before.”

“Why offer the ‘little thief’ mercy?” Qrow asked her with a scoff. “Surely you would rather see me dead…”

“Oh I care not of what you have stolen from me in the past.” She spoke softly with the tone of a mother humouring her child. “I see your true potential, the power your magic holds, yet it is wasted with Ozpin so won’t you join me?” She tilted his chin up so he would look at her and not James. “You’ll live in my new world with more magic than ever before and I can even bring back your darling knight.”

Hearing that, Qrow slapped her hand away, his normally soft eyes glaring at her with intensity. “I want nothing to do with your new world or your necromancy, witch!”

The soft motherly look melted away to anger as she glared back at him with glowing red eyes before she struck his cheek with her palm. It stung more than he thought it would as he winced from the pain but he continued to glower back at her defiantly. 

“I suppose it was foolish of me to think that an insolent little thief would be anything more than that. No matter, you’ll be joining your beloved knight in the afterlife soon enough.” She hissed as she walked back to her throne. “For now though, I’ll allow you to mourn your loss… and perhaps I’ll even allow you to see the new world I create before I send you to your grave.”

Qrow watched her with narrowed eyes for a short while before he brought his attention back to James. He knew he wasn’t strong enough to defeat her, at least not by himself, he knew he should try to get away to warn everyone but he couldn’t leave James’ body behind, not with her, not when she could bring him back as a monster to be used as a puppet. So Qrow simply held James in his arms, silently cried as he brushed loose strands of hair out of his face. 

“I never even had the chance to tell you that I love you…” Qrow whispered in anguish as tears continued to fall. “I love you so much James…” He spoke softly before he placed a kiss on James’ lips as if to say farewell, but then suddenly, a white light enveloped them both and Qrow had to shield his eyes from the brightness. He heard the witch shriek in surprise but he couldn’t concentrate on her when he felt a warm, comforting hand on his cheek and when the light dissipated he saw beautiful cobalt eyes staring at him with love.

“J-James? Is it… really you? Or am I dreaming?” Qrow asked in disbelief as he reached out a shaky hand to his knight who took his hand and squeezed it to show that he was real. “You’re not an illusion?!”

“It’s me Qrow, this is real, you saved me.” James assured him with tenderness in his voice.

“But how…?”

James was about to answer but the witch spoke up first.

“No! This cannot be! It’s impossible! Only truly dark blood magic can bring someone back from death! Pure life magic born from true love doesn’t exist!” She screamed out in fury as dark magic crackled around her.

“True love?” James repeated in surprise as he looked to Qrow in wonder. “Qrow, you feel as I do? You love me?”

“I do, I love you, my knight.” Qrow told him sincerely with a kiss to the hand that he was holding before he turned his attention to Salem, getting into an offensive stance in the process. “But we should deal with her before we celebrate.”

James nodded his head in understanding as he grabbed his shield with his free hand and held it in a defensive position. He felt powerful magic within himself and Qrow as well, he knew it meant that their magic was linked together now. Qrow seemed to have the same thought as he picked up James’ holy blade with no repercussions. He could feel immense light magic from the sword as he held it, ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

“It matters not that you have returned to the world of the living, I will kill you once more along with your precious thief! No amount of true love will resurrect either of you! You will rot in the fiery depths of this wretched world!” She shrieked as she sent a beam of shadowy darkness at the two lovers. 

James lifted his shield up, he and Qrow both concentrated their magic into a protection spell but instead of the usual white light he was used to it was a multi coloured rainbow that shielded them from her deathly spell that he had lost his life to only moments ago. Her dark magic fizzled and dissipated the moment it hit their shield much to her disbelief.

“H-How… How is this possible!? How is your magic more powerful than mine!?” She demanded in a shrill wail as she continued to cast magic at them.

“You said it yourself, witch.” Qrow told her as he held onto his lover’s hand, looking to him with a tender smile.

James returned his smile before glaring back at Salem. “True love is stronger than any hateful magic you send at us.” 

Qrow pointed the holy sword at her and said, “That’s right, and now you will pay for all the lives you’ve taken, for all the people you’ve hurt over the countless years you’ve lived!”

“No! You cannot kill me! I am the immortal witch! No one can kill me!” She screamed in desperation as she continued to throw spells at them to no avail.

“You’ve lived long enough, witch!” James yelled at her in anger as he and Qrow focused their magic into his sword. The blade became coated in their combined rainbow magic, it was glowing with their love and Qrow could feel warmth from it as he held it tight. 

Qrow raised the sword, feeling James’ magic embracing him as he did so, then he swung the blade and sent a rainbow crescent towards her. She conjured black lightning in a futile attempt to stop the attack but their combined magic obliterated hers and pierced her chest as she let out an agonizing scream before she turned to ash and disappeared.

“Sleep eternally.” Qrow muttered quietly before he softened and turned to his knight. “James-”

And then James had dropped his shield to wrap his arms around him and pull him into an embrace. Qrow dropped the holy blade so he could return the hug.

“Qrow… Oh Qrow… My Qrow…” James spoke his name softly as he brought his hands up to cup his cheeks, his face so full of love that he made Qrow’s heart flutter as his cheeks turned pink.

“Yes, I’m yours, forever and always, my knight.” Qrow replied with a gentle smile as he placed his hands over James’ own.

James whispered his name once more before he brought their lips together in a kiss so chaste and sweet, neither wanted it to end but eventually they had to pull apart. Both of their faces were happy and full of love as they stared into each other’s eyes, knowing that their love was reciprocated and it would be so for all eternity. 

The two men were exhausted from using so much of their magic and from the emotional reunion after James’ temporary death so they grabbed the holy sword and shield and left Salem’s dark domain. There was a town not very far away so they made their way there, conversations of loving banter and soft assuring words filled the space between them as they held hands the whole way there. The innkeepers happily gave them a room and after divesting themselves of their battle clothes, they collapsed onto the bed, their bodies weary from the day’s events. The sun had only just begun to set but the two men were happy to simply fall asleep as they held each other close, thankful for their love.

Once they returned to Atlas, a celebration was held for their heroic efforts in ending Salem’s tyranny. Now the Kingdom saw Qrow as a hero as well for James had been honest when he told the story of their final battle, of Qrow saving him. Although he may have left out the part about true love because that wasn’t anyone’s business but his and Qrow’s. The party had gone well into the night and eventually James took Qrow by the hand and led him to his private chambers where they made love for the first time.

And it was the second time they fell asleep in each other’s arms though it wasn’t the last.


End file.
